Warsaw

What to see

Royal Castle

The Royal Castle closes the east side of Castle Square, rebuilt after 1945 on the old footprint and now the ceremonial face of the old town. The square in front, with the Sigismund column, is the arrival. Inside, the state rooms explain a court that is no longer a rumour.

Plac Zamkowy 4, Warszawa

Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0

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Palace of Culture and Science

The Palace of Culture is the Stalinist skyscraper in the middle of the modern centre, impossible to pretend away and, from the viewing terrace, the best map of the city. The building also holds theatres and a congress hall. Love it or not, the terrace is the practical reason to go in.

Plac Defilad 1, Warszawa

Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0

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Łazienki Park

Łazienki is the royal park south of the centre, with the Palace on the Isle sitting in a lake and peacocks on the paths. It is free to walk and large enough to lose a city afternoon. Chopin’s monument is the Sunday concert spot in summer. This is the Warsaw that is not trying to be a capital of concrete.

Agrykoli 1, Warszawa

Photo: Miłośnik Podróży · CC BY-SA 4.0

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Warsaw Uprising Museum

The Uprising Museum in a former tram power station tells the 1944 rising in a dense, loud exhibition, with a replica of a Liberator bomber in the main hall. It is the essential Warsaw museum and it takes longer than people expect. Go early. The tone is not gentle, because the event was not.

ul. Grzybowska 79, Warszawa

Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0

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POLIN Museum

POLIN, on the site of the former ghetto, is the museum of the history of Polish Jews, a careful modern building facing the Ghetto Heroes monument. The core exhibition is a long walk through a thousand years. It is not a footnote to the old town. Give it a separate half-day.

ul. Anielewicza 6, Warszawa

Photo: Kpalion · CC BY-SA 3.0

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Food and restaurants

Restaurants and hotels change hands. These listings were last checked on 26 October 2026.

U Fukiera

U Fukiera occupies a townhouse on the old market square and has been a restaurant address there for generations, long enough that the name is part of the square. The cooking is Polish and formal. You are paying for the room and the address as well as the plate. Book, especially when the square is full of tours.

Rynek Starego Miasta 27, Warszawa

Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0

Open in Google Maps , U Fukiera

Bar Prasowy

Bar Prasowy is a milk bar, the Polish canteen of dumplings, tomato soup, and a low bill, still working as a milk bar rather than as a theme. It now sits on Zajęcza, a short walk from its older Marszałkowska room. You queue, you point, you sit with strangers.

ul. Zajęcza 1A, Warszawa

Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0

Open in Google Maps , Bar Prasowy

Zapiecek

Zapiecek is the pierogi house of the old town, a local name that has fed visitors on these lanes for years. There is more than one door; aim for the old-town branch and accept a queue at lunch. It is dumplings, not a chef’s tasting. That is the recommendation.

ul. Piwna, Warszawa

Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0

Open in Google Maps , Zapiecek

Polska Różana

Polska Różana on Chocimska is a long-running restaurant of Polish cooking in a house south of the centre, closer to Łazienki than to the old town. It is a proper dinner, tablecloths and familiar dishes done carefully. Book if you are making the trip down from the castle.

ul. Chocimska 7, Warszawa

Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0

Open in Google Maps , Polska Różana

Kamienne Schodki

Kamienne Schodki is another old-market restaurant, named for the stone steps, and a second choice when Fukier is full. The cooking is Polish and the room looks onto the square. You are in the most visited block in the city; expect the pace of that, and book.

Rynek Starego Miasta 26, Warszawa

Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0

Open in Google Maps , Kamienne Schodki

Where to stay

Restaurants and hotels change hands. These listings were last checked on 26 October 2026.

Hotel Bristol

Hotel Bristol, on Krakowskie Przedmieście, is the 1901 grand hotel of Warsaw, a secured address between the old town and the university. It is formal, expensive, and still the name people mean by a classic stay. The Royal Route is the front door.

ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 42/44, Warszawa

Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0

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Hotel Europejski

Hotel Europejski, now under the Raffles name as well as its old one, faces the same royal street a little closer to Castle Square. The building is historic; the refit is recent. Choose it when you want the old-town edge with a large-hotel desk. Ask what the street sounds like on a Saturday.

ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 13, Warszawa

Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0

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Hotel Warszawa

Hotel Warszawa is the converted Prudential tower, the pre-war skyscraper that survived as a symbol and now holds a hotel. The location is the modern centre, a walk from the station streets and not inside the old-town lanes. The building is the reason to stay, more than any spa.

Plac Powstańców Warszawy 9, Warszawa

Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0

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Shopping

Hala Mirowska

Hala Mirowska and the neighbouring Hala Gwardii are the iron market halls west of the old town, produce in one and a more restless mix of food and events in the other. Morning is the market. It is a better shop than the castle-square stalls, and a short walk from the old town.

Plac Mirowski 1, Warszawa

Photo: A.fiedler · CC BY-SA 3.0

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Nowy Świat

Nowy Świat is the shopping promenade of the Royal Route, clothes and cafés in rebuilt townhouses running south from the university. It is elegant and not cheap. The pleasure is the street. For a market, walk west to the halls; for a mall, the station roofs are nearby.

ul. Nowy Świat, Warszawa

Photo: Maksym Kozlenko · CC BY-SA 4.0

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Złote Tarasy

Złote Tarasy is the glass shopping centre beside Central station, useful when the weather fails or you need an ordinary shop between trains. It is a mall, with a wavy roof that photographs well and shops that could be anywhere. The old town is a tram ride, not an exit.

ul. Złota 59, Warszawa

Photo: Jan Stradowski · CC BY 3.0

Open in Google Maps , Złote Tarasy

How to get there

Warsaw Chopin Airport

Chopin Airport is in the south of the city, on the train line and the bus corridor into the centre, about twenty to thirty minutes when the road is kind. It is the main air gate. Modlin, far to the north, is a separate low-cost field and a longer transfer. Read which airport your ticket actually uses.

ul. Żwirki i Wigury 1, Warszawa

Photo: Kgbo · CC BY-SA 4.0

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Warszawa Centralna

Warszawa Centralna is the underground long-distance station in the middle of the business centre, under a tangle of platforms and the shopping roof. Trains to Kraków, Gdańsk, and Berlin use it. Follow the signs carefully; the neighbouring stations Śródmieście and the tram are easy to enter by mistake.

Aleje Jerozolimskie 54, Warszawa

Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0

Open in Google Maps , Warszawa Centralna

Warsaw West bus station

The main coach station is at Warszawa Zachodnia, west of the centre, beside the railway station of the same name. International buses and many domestic coaches use it, not Centralna. Leave time to cross from the train platforms to the bus hall. It is a transfer place, not a neighbourhood to linger in.

Aleje Jerozolimskie 144, Warszawa

Illustration: Pasaulis · CC0 1.0

Open in Google Maps , Warsaw West bus station

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